Nancy Guthrie investigators turn attention to crazed fans of Today show host daughter… as details emerge of ‘delusional’ letters and gifts that ‘crossed a line’

Police are probing superfans who bombarded NBC host Savannah Guthrie with gifts and mail before her mother was abducted, the Daily Mail has learned.

Investigators have asked NBC whether there were any troubling fan interactions that could be relevant to the case, a senior source claims.

This development comes as a major manhunt approaches its fourth day after Nancy Guthrie, 84, was snatched from her home in Tucson, Arizona, late Saturday night and has not been seen since.

No suspect has been identified and police insist there is no danger to the wider public. However, investigators have not ruled out that Nancy may have been targeted because she is the mother of the famous Today show host.

As one of the hit morning program’s top stars, Guthrie has long been accustomed to receiving fan mail and unsolicited messages – some of which have crossed the line, our source said.

‘There are so many people who reach out and just get a little bit too familiar. So many.

‘That’s always been an issue, as long as I’ve been here. Matt [Lauer] used to have so many women reach out and some of them were pretty delusional. Hoda [Kotb] had a few but not a lot. Michael [Strahan] had some.

‘I don’t think Savannah has more crazies than anyone else, but she has had a few people who just cross the line, too much communication, sending gifts, asking her out, just not knowing boundaries.’

The source said it was unclear whether NBC had referred any of the interactions to police, but added: ‘Usually she just deals with them, that’s kind of how it’s done. Just ignores them and they go away.

‘I don’t know of any that really scared her, but there are definite fans that make her go, ‘Hmm’. That’s the nature of being on TV. People don’t know boundaries.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for NBC and police investigators for comment. 

Nancy Guthrie was reported missing at noon on Sunday by her family. She has not been seen since the night of January 31.

Investigators say her Apple Watch stopped syncing with her pacemaker at around 2am – suggesting she was taken from her home at around that time.

The watch was later found inside the property.

Nancy lives alone in a $1 million home in the affluent Catalina Foothills neighborhood. Her phone, wallet and car were all still at the house when police arrived.

Detectives searching the property found the lights in the common areas switched on. The front door was unlocked, but there were signs of forced entry, the Daily Mail understands.

Officers are now going door-to-door collecting security camera footage from neighbors as they attempt to identify a suspect. Police are also searching for a vehicle of interest, a law enforcement source said.

They are also investigating the possibility that a ransom demand has been made.

Multiple news outlets reported receiving what appeared to be copies of a ransom note, including TMZ, which said the kidnappers demanded cryptocurrency among other things.

Nancy had spent Saturday evening out to dinner and playing mahjong with Savannah Guthrie’s sister Annie before returning home.

As the search intensifies, authorities fear time may be running out. Nancy relies on daily medication and must be found quickly to ensure her safety.

Experts told the Daily Mail that key clues at the scene suggest Nancy was abducted by a stranger – likely a man in his 30s or 40s.

Dr Bryanna Fox, a former FBI special agent in the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit and a criminology professor at the University of South Florida, said: ‘If it was a family member or somebody who knows the house, they wouldn’t have forced entry.

‘If she knew them, they would have been likely to have carried out a ruse to get her to go with them and get into the vehicle.’

Investigators say the fact that Nancy left behind her phone and medication – along with evidence of blood inside the home – strongly suggests she did not leave willingly.

However, experts caution that a stranger abduction does not mean she was chosen at random.

Whoever took Nancy likely selected her in advance and carried out surveillance, learning her routines and habits.

‘This was not just a random selection of the victim. This was probably a person or a group of people that selected her, probably cased her pattern of life, what time she goes to sleep, knew that she didn’t have security, knew that she lived alone and would be sleeping alone,’ Fox said.

Chris McDonough, a retired detective with the Oceanside Police Department, told the Daily Mail he believes the suspect likely had prior contact with Nancy before the abduction.

‘That could be a gardener or a delivery person or so on,’ he said.

‘It’s somebody who knew that she was around 84 and living in that house on her own. At some point, they had crossed into her environment.’